Walt "Clyde" Frazier, Happy 65th.
One of the most dominant point guards ever, one of the greatest Knicks of all time and arguably the most flamboyant & stylish dresser in NBA history, Frazier is a unique legend of style & zest for life.
2 time Champion, 7 time All-Defensive 1st Team, 7 time All-Star, 4 Time All-NBA 1st Team, 4 Time All-NBA 2nd Team. He lead Southern Illinois to the NIT Title in 1967 and was named tournament MVP. In Game 7 of his first NBA Finals appearance, he had 36 points, 19 assists & 7 boards on the way to the championship. He was the most dominant defensive point guard and one of the greatest all around guards of his era.
Frazier speaks on his game & the NBA in general
"When the game is on the line, I'm actually more relaxed. I like pressure. That's when my focus is unequivocally magnificent. More than anything, it's about confidence and positive thinking that develops over the course of your life even before your pro career."
"My thing was, I loved defense. Throughout grade school, high school and college, my coaches stressed defense. I said to myself, 'I'm gonna be the best goddamn defensive player I can be.' I mastered defense, man. The stance, the anticipation of the ball and what guys would do in certain situations."
"Everyone has a cadence, a rhythm. Like in life there is a rhythm. The motion of the ocean has a rhythm. Most of the time, a guy is vulnerable going to his weak side and he does not protect the ball like he should. So there is an opening there. During the course of a game I would set a guy up for that. He's been comfortable with that particular move the entire game and now I go for the steal when it will have an impact on the outcome of the game.
"Most of the guys used hand checking. Almost everybody did it. I didn't do it because I used deception on defense. I didn't like guys to know where I was so I never put my hands on them."
On guarding Michael Jordan:
"No question, I'd shut him down.
Frazier was & is still known for his fashion sense, style & cool. He was nicknamed "Clyde" because he wore a hat similar to Warren Beatty's in the movie "Bonnie And Clyde". He wrote a book called "Rockin' Steady: A Guide To Basketball & Cool". He drove a Rolls Royce with his initials on the license plate around Manhattan and to all home games. He was popular in the clubs of Manhattan and with the finest women in New York.
Today he's the color analyst for the New York Knicks. While still stylish, he's a different man than the Clyde who cruised the nightlife of New York in the 70s. He describes the transition from being the toast of New York to becoming the real Walt Frazier:
"I remember Dave DeBusschere and (my other teammates) used to say that I would have the toughest transition to make going into retirement because of being Clyde and coming down from all that. It didn't happen right away and it wasn't easy. But I was fed up with New York and that scene, the nightclubs and the cars. I didn't want to vegetate as Clyde. I was searching for something. I didn't know what it was until I came here."
Where is here?
St. Croix in the Virgin Islands.
After leaving the Knicks for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Frazier was relatively stranded in Cleveland and forced to find out who he really was. Upon retirement, he moved to St. Croix where he bought land & built homes. He survived the devastation of Hurricane Hugo in 1979 and rebuilt his property that had been destroyed. He bought more land and built more houses. Now he spends the better part of the NBA off season there designing, building and opening unique guest houses. He still gets dressed up when he's in NY, but when he's at home on the island he wears basic whites & baseball hats.
At age 65, Clyde is going strong, spending large parts of his time appreciating animals, cultivating plants, building homes & enjoying the fruits of his labor. And still being a vital part of the Knicks franchise, even in their time of transition. He went from Dishing and Swishing to Articulating and Devastating. Now he's Beasting and Feasting on the good life.
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